Bangladesh
Severing college teacher’s wrist: Seven held in Kushtia
Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) members have arrested seven people over attempting to kill a college teacher by severing his right wrist at Shalghar Modhua village in Kumarkhali upazila of Kushtia on Friday.
The arrestees were Mosharof Hossain Mosha, 26, son of Md Soleman, Nazim Uddin, 27, son of Mokaddes Hossain, Md Samad, 27, son of Abdul Khaleque, Muhaimen Hossain, 27, son of Aiyub Ali, Halim, 40, son of Samed Ali, Md Palash, 23, son of Abdul Khaleque and Md Mukul, 42, son of Gopal Sheikh.
All the arrestees are residents of the same village.
Also read: Man dies at lover's home; one held
RAB members have seized three rounds of bullet, magazines and a foreign pistol from their possessions. The arrestees have confessed to their involvement in the crime during primary interrogation.
In a press briefing on Saturday, Squadron Leader Mohammad Ilias Khan, company commander of Kushtia Camp of RAB-12, said Tofazzel Hossain is an assistant professor of Economics Department at Bashgram College of the upazila.
He came under attack as a sequel to previous enmity between two groups over establishing supremacy at Kushtia Sadar upazila’s Bongshitola area on May 31.
Also read: Rape attempt on woman on moving bus: Driver, helper held
Victim’s son Nazmus Sakib filed a case with Kushtia Model Police Station accusing 26 people, including 5/6 unnamed onews, for the attack the next day.
Critically injured Mofazzel is currently undergoing treatment at a hospital in Dhaka
Woman killed ‘by brother-in-law’ in city
A 32-year-old woman was killed allegedly by her brother-in-law over land dispute in the city’s Shyampur area on Saturday.
The deceased was identified as Nazma Begum, wife of Abul Kashem, resident of Shayampur.
Md Sentu, brother-in-law of Nazma, hit Nazma with a sharp weapon while she was busy in her household work in the kitchen, leaving her injured, said family members.
Also read: Man killed in Kurigram road accident
Inspector Bachchu Mia, in-charge of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital police camp, said doctors declared Nazma dead when she was brought here around 10:24 am.
Police arrested Sentu and sent the body to the hospital morgue for autopsy.
Also read: 10 killed in accidents in 3 districts
Paralysed man charred to death in Ctg fire
A paralysed man was charred to death in a fire that broke out in his parents-in-law's house in Chattogram's Hathazari upazila early on Saturday morning.
The deceased was identified as Forkan, 48, a resident of Nangalmora union of the upazila. Six others sustained minor burn injuries in the fire, officials said.
READ: Gazipur garment factory catches fire
According to the fire service, the fire broke out around 5am. Though his wife, parents-in-law and others managed to get out of the house, Forkan got trapped and was charred to death.
Shahjahan, a senior station officer of the fire service, said two fire tenders took two hours to douse the flames. "The victim’s body has been handed over to his family," he added.
Woman 'ends life' in Kurigram
A woman in Kurigram allegedly committed suicide over a family feud on Saturday morning.
The deceased, Shahera Begum, 35, was the wife of Mohubor Ali of Hatiar Babur Char in the district's Ulipur upazila.
According to locals, Shahera hanged herself from the ceiling of the family house over the long-standing feud with her husband.
READ: Kurigram: 5 Indians freed after jail term for illegal entry
Imtiaz Kabir, officer-in-charge of Ulipur police station said legal action would be taken in the case after an investigation.
Brace for monsoon showers in next 24 hours!
With the southwest monsoon setting in over Bangladesh, the weather department has predicted light to moderate showers in the next 24 hours.
“Light to moderate rain or thunder showers accompanied by temporary gusty wind is likely to occur at most places over Dhaka, Chattogram, Sylhet, Mymensingh and Rangpur divisions and at many places over Barishal division and at a few places over Rajshahi and Khulna divisions with moderately heavy to very heavy falls at places over Chattogram, Mymensingh and Sylhet divisions,” the Met office said in its bulletin on Saturday.
Day and night temperatures may remain nearly unchanged over the country, as per the bulletin.
READ: Brace for monsoon showers!
Monsoon is fairly active over Bangladesh and moderate over the North Bay.
Meanwhile, the maritime ports of Chattogram, Cox’s Bazaar, Mongla and Payra have been advised to keep hoisted local cautionary signal number three as a deep convection is continuing over the North Bay.
All fishing boats and trawlers in the North Bay and the deep sea have been advised to come closer to the coast and proceed with caution until further notice, according to the department.
Deep convection refers to the thermally driven turbulent mixing that moves air parcels from the lower to the upper atmosphere.
Dhaka: Inadequate efforts for climate migrants may lead to global security risk
Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has said the international community is not doing enough for millions of ‘climate migrants’ who often get subjected to various forms of security risks and exploitations.
“Climate-induced displacement could lead to a global security risk in today’s interconnected world,” Momen warned while speaking at a roundtable on “Environment of Peace: Securing a just and peaceful transition in a new era of risk.”
He emphasized on the significance of creating global awareness on the climate-security nexus and an enforcement mechanism to address the challenges.
The event was organized by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on the sidelines of the Stokholm+50 international meeting on Friday.
Momen stressed that the international community should share the burden of climate migrants’ rehabilitation, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday.
The Foreign Minister also held a bilateral meeting with the Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation Matilda Ernkrans and discussed how to enhance cooperation on climate change, education and other areas.
He urged the Swedish Minister to put pressure on Myanmar for bringing back the forcibly displaced Rohingyas with safety and dignity.
READ: Dhaka calls for more IOM role in helping climate migrants
Momen also underlined that the business-as-usual approach with Myanmar will not make any progress.
DU holds 'Kha' unit admission test
Dhaka University (DU) on Saturday held the admission test of the 'Kha' unit under the Faculty of Arts for the 2021-22 academic session.
The test was held at designated examination centres across the eight divisions of the country. The test began at 11am for a duration of one-and-a-half hours.
"This year, we decided to hold the exams in all eight divisions of the country to minimise the sufferings of the candidates and their parents," said DU vice-chancellor Prof Akhtaruzzaman.
"Arts faculty dean Prof Abdul Bashir coordinating the unit exam and vice-chancellors of the respective universities helped us in this regard. I was told that the exams were held smoothly," he said.
This year, 58,565 candidates appeared for the unit test. There are a total of 1,788 seats in 'Kha' unit, which means 33 students are competing for each seat.
Also read: UGC approves Tk 10,444.04 crore budget for 51 public universities in 2022-23
Besides DU, the admission test was held at the University of Chittagong, the University of Rajshahi, Khulna University, University of Barishal, Bangladesh Agricultural University of Mymensingh, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology in Sylhet and Begum Rokeya University of Rangpur.
Also read: DU holds 'Ga' unit admission test
Man killed in Kurigram road accident
One person was killed and another injured when a speeding truck knocked them down in the Zia Bazar area of Kurigram's Sadar upazila early on Saturday, police said.
The deceased was identified as Alam Mia, who worked as a helper of a lorry driver. The lorry driver has been hospitalised.
The accident occurred around 5am when the Nageshwar-bound truck from Chilmari hit Alam and his boss as they got off their lorry, leaving Alam dead on the spot, said Nazmul Islam, duty officer of Sadar Police Station.
READ: Road accidents claim 7 lives in 3 districts
"We have seized the killer truck but its driver managed to flee. Efforts are on to nab him," the officer said.
Bangladesh kicks off week-long booster dose campaign
Bangladesh on Saturday kicked off a week-long booster dose campaign, aiming to inoculate over one crore people across the country.
"The campaign began at 9am on Saturday. It will continue till June 10," said Dr Shamsul Haque, director of the Corona Vaccination Campaign of the Health Services Division.
The government has taken this initiative to cover over one crore people though nearly four crore citizens are waiting to get the booster dose, he said.
According to the Health Services Division, the booster doses will be administered in 16,181 centres across the country. Of these, 623 are permanent centres while 15,558 are temporary ones.
As many as 45,535 health workers and volunteers have been roped in for the campaign, officials said. Adults who got their second dose some four months ago are eligible for the booster shot.
Alongside the booster dose campaign, the regular activities of administering Covid jabs are on.
READ: Booster doses to be available for citizens above 40: Minister
Bangladesh Covid situation
Bangladesh registered 29 new Covid cases in 24 hours till Friday morning, taking the country's total caseload to 1,953,592.
The country's total fatalities remained unchanged at 29,131 as no deaths were reported during the period, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
In May, the country reported only four Covid-linked deaths and 816 new cases while 7,356 patients recovered from the disease, according to the DGHS.
Among the four deaths during the period, one was vaccinated with single dose of a Covid vaccine while three were vaccinated with two doses.
Dhaka's air quality remains ‘unhealthy’
Dhaka's air quality continues to be 'unhealthy'.
With an air quality index (AQI) score of 149 at 8.27am on Saturday, the metropolis ranked third in the list of world cities with the worst air quality.
Pakistan’s Lahore and India’s Delhi occupied the first and the second spots, with AQI scores of 210 and 158, respectively, in the list.
An AQI between 151and 200 is considered 'unhealthy' for everyone and members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects.
Similarly, an AQI between 201 and 300 is said to be 'poor', while a reading of 301 to 400 is considered 'hazardous', posing serious health risks to residents.
AQI, an index for reporting daily air quality, is used by government agencies to inform people how clean or polluted the air of a certain city is, and what associated health effects might be a concern for them.
READ: Dhaka’s air quality remains ‘unhealthy’
In Bangladesh, the AQI is based on five criteria pollutants -- Particulate Matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2 and Ozone.
Dhaka has long been grappling with air pollution issues. Its air quality usually turns unhealthy in winter and improves during the monsoon.
A report by the Department of Environment (DoE) and the World Bank in March 2019 pointed out that the three main sources of air pollution in Dhaka "are brick kilns, fumes from vehicles and dust from construction sites".
With the advent of winter, the city’s air quality starts deteriorating sharply due to the massive discharge of pollutant particles from construction work, rundown roads, brick kilns and other sources.
Also read: Dhaka’s air quality still ‘unhealthy’
Air pollution consistently ranks among the top risk factors for death and disability worldwide. Breathing polluted air has long been recognised as increasing a person’s chances of developing a heart disease, chronic respiratory diseases, lung infections and cancer, according to several studies.
As per the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year, largely as a result of increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and acute respiratory infections.